With partition, Camarines Sur may lose competitive edge

Business leaders in Camarines Sur have warned legislators that the province could lose its competitive edge as the Philippines’ ecotourism capital—centered on the Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC) and Caramoan Islands—should Congress pass a bill chopping it up into two separate provinces.

Business leaders belonging to the Camarines Sur Chamber of Commerce said the plan to create a new province out of Camarines Sur would not only entail unnecessary start-up expenses estimated at P800 million for the government, but would also adversely affect the tourism development plan for CamSur, which promotes CWC and Caramoan as a package to attract international visitors.

House Bill 4728, which proposes the creation of a new separate province called Nueva Camarines, threatens to derail the existing tourism plan for Camarines Sur, which last year became the country’s top tourism hub in terms of visitor arrivals, according to the chamber’s chairman, Butch Figuracion, and its vice president, Roger Peyra.

Earlier, local elective officials led by the provincial chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines; the provincial chapter of the Philippine Councilors’ League, and the Liga ng mga Barangay assailed the proposal of Representative Arnulfo Fuentebella who is pushing the bill in the House of Representatives.

They also called on the Senate to thumb down the move to divide the province.

“The plan to create a Nueva Camarines is not only highly divisive as a political issue, but also economically unproductive and financially non-feasible,” said Figuracion.

The executives questioned the motives of Fuentebella—a lawmaker on his third and last term under Constitutional limits—in pushing for the bill’s passage, despite strident public opposition in the province.

Figuracion said that rather than waste P800 million of taxpayers’ money just to carve out a new province out of Camarines Sur, the proponents of the bill should instead work with the provincial leadership to fully transform CamSur into a tourism haven and economic powerhouse in the Bicol region.

The CWC is located in the provincial capitol in Pili, while Caramoan Island is part of the Caramoan Peninsula situated at the eastern portion of CamSur.

“You cannot separate these two sites as they are packaged together to bring in tourists to CamSur,” Peyra said. “What will happen now if Caramoan Island [is separated] from CamSur? It will upset the provincial government’s blueprint for CamSur’s tourism industry and the business sector’s plans to expand or open up new ventures in the province.”

In a study done by the Local Government Development Foundation, in partnership with the German-based Konrad Adenauer Stiflung foundation, it reportedly would take a total of P789.65 million, based on 2005 prices, to create a new province.